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September 30, 2012 10:57 AM
Pearlstein Zings ‘Job-Creator’ Fetish
Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein skewers the pro-entrepreneur/pro-job creator fetish better than I’ve ever seen it done. It starts:
I am a corporate chief executive.
I am a business owner.
I am a private-equity fund manager.
I am the misunderstood superhero of American capitalism, single-handedly creating wealth and prosperity despite all the obstacles put in my way by employees, government and the media.
I am a job creator and I am entitled.
It ends:
I am entitled to everything I have and more that I still deserve.
The fetishization of entrepreneurs and job-creators often ignores the fact that our business heroes don’t always create that many American jobs. (See Steve Jobs.) Still, many commentators and public officials persist in putting management on a pedestal, while ignoring everyone else who contributes to the economy. See Eric Cantor’s Labor Day salute: “Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.”
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Ronald on September 30, 2012 11:10 AM:
Hmm. As far as I've always understood, it is the small business owners, most of whom make way ass less than $250k/year, who are the actual largest driver of jobs, outside of the local/state/federal government.
Is that wrong?
c u n d gulag on September 30, 2012 11:19 AM:
All rise!
Let us pray for our Job Creators.
Let them prey on us.
Repeat our Randian Lord's Prayer after me:
"Our Job Creaters,
Which art in heavenly mansions,
Hallowed be thy names.
Thy fortune's come,
Thy will be done,
By buying local, state, and national politicians.
Sell us this day our daily bread,
For a massive profit, of course,
And don't forgive us,
As we won't forgive those who are weaker than us.
Lead us not into Liberalism,
And deliver us from Democrats.
Amen..."
All rise!
gregor on September 30, 2012 11:48 AM:
Just a little over a month before the election, the only person that could come on Meet the Press to support Romney with his idiocy is Ralph Reed!
LOL! ROFLMAO!
Why is this quasi-felon on my TV?
DRF on September 30, 2012 11:57 AM:
Actually, in response to Ronald's question, I think that large businesses are the largest creator of new jobs; small businesses actually create relatively few jobs (because they are, after all, "small" businesses). Hopefully, someone can verify this with some actual statistics.
However, the only real job "creators" on Perlstein's list are small business owners, and only if they started the business (as opposed to inheriting it or buying it from a founder). Executives of large corporations don't really create jobs, although the corporation itself might do so; those executives work for a paycheck (and bonuses) and are, ultimately, fungeable. Private equity companies are an important part of the capitalist system, providing funding to acquire companies, but this rarely involves job creation and more frequently involves layoffs in the acquired companies. Even venture capital companies don't really "create" jobs; they fund startups, usually founded by one or more individuals who have a great idea--those are the people, if any, who can really be credited with creating jobs.
Everyone who participates in the capitalist system can take some credit for job creation, in that it requires a number of different roles and functions to make the system work. Companies need executives; entrepeneurs need financiers. To celebrate the Mitt Romneys of the world, and the hedge fund managers, as job "creators" is to overly idealize their contribution and to give more credit than really due.
DAY on September 30, 2012 12:05 PM:
Sunday's "Job Creator"parable:
My Dad was a roofer, and he taught me the trade. He retired and I bought his truck and tools.
My buddy and I did a re-roof, and we split the profit.
We got three more jobs, and I hired him full time.
We bid lowest (no overhead!) on a new housing project. 30 roofs.
I bought another truck and hired two more guys.
A year layer I had five trucks, an office manager, and 12 employees.
Another year, I borrowed $200K and bought out a retiring plumber and an electrician. 20 trucks and fifty employees!
We bid on and got a 200 unit development! Borrowed $300K from my bank.
The market crashed, the developer went bust, and I filed for bankruptcy. My employees went looking for a job.
I'm mowing lawns. With my Dad.
cwolf on September 30, 2012 12:08 PM:
Big corporations create jobs for robots.
The Job Creationist theories of the uber wealthy and their lapdog morons are pure nonsense.
jjm on September 30, 2012 12:24 PM:
The GOP has always discouraged small businesses, preferring large corporate chains that ship the money out of town to be gathered up by a few monopolists.
howard on September 30, 2012 12:51 PM:
the job creator fetish would have you assume that the captains of industry create jobs as a favor to the rest of us.
the fact is, there is only one thing in the known universe that "creates" jobs, and that is demand for the product of the job.
absent demand, no jobs, period, end of story.
shivas on September 30, 2012 1:26 PM:
Let's suppose that a "job" is $50,000 per year and a person works for 40 years in their lifetime. That means a "job" is worth about $2,000,000.
The wealth that flows upward and stalls is lost jobs. Anybody sitting on $1 billion in wealth is sitting on 500 jobs. The Koch brothers for example with about $50 billion in wealth are sitting on or stifling approximately 25,000 jobs.
These people are not job creators, they are job thieves, they take money out of the system and sit on it, stifling the economy and denying people the chance at a livelihood.
If that is what they want to do and it is all within the law, fine I don't have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is that they want to be venerated as some kind of job creator, which they are not. They are just members of the Greedy One Percent.
martin on September 30, 2012 1:26 PM:
Cund must be a fellow ex-catholic, as he failed to add
"For thine is the wealth and the power and the privilege"
though the original biblical tag works well also.
g on September 30, 2012 2:43 PM:
Consumers create jobs.
maggie on September 30, 2012 3:24 PM:
Someday I really want someone to ask these people who the hell they are talking about when they refer to the "job creators". I don't see anybody creating any freaking jobs. Who are these job creators??? I dare them to start naming names.
maggie on September 30, 2012 3:28 PM:
Someday I really want someone to ask these people who the hell they are talking about when they refer to the "job creators". I don't see anybody creating any freaking jobs. Who are these job creators??? I dare them to start naming names.
Doug on September 30, 2012 7:09 PM:
"These people are not job creators, they are job thieves, they take money out of the system and sit on it, stifling stifling the economy..." shivas @ 1:26 PM
We USED to have a way to keep that money circulating in the economy: high marginal income tax rates of 70% or more. Personally, I'd settle for 50% right now...
Jim S on September 30, 2012 8:19 PM:
Given that about 50% of small businesses don't make it past their first five years (per the SBA) how successful can they be at creating jobs? Small businesses also generally pay less than larger firms and are less likely to provide benefits. Factor in the desire of large companies to strive for maximum efficiency and minimum numbers of employees and I think you come up with a reasonable argument that jobs in the modern era are created in spite of the desire of business management, not because of them. It doesn't make them evil, but deifying them doesn't help when trying to come to grips with the problem of unemployment.
MuddyLee on October 01, 2012 6:48 AM:
When did the term "job creators" come into being? I don't remember hearing it during the 70s, 80s, or 90s - was this term even used during the Bush-Cheney era? Wall Street looks at business PROFITS - stocks don't go up on hiring numbers do they? It's common to hear of a company announcing big layoffs, and then the price of the stock rises. Better terminology: business owners, corporate CE0s, stock traders, wheeler dealers. And of course the more money that goes to the top (owners, CE0s, traders) the less money actually goes to the workers, employees, "associates" - the people who work for wages. And thanks for mentioning that Steve Jobs was not that concerned about American JOBS. Bring back the republican party of George Romney, and the hell with the republican party of Mitt Romney.
AT on October 01, 2012 9:16 AM:
The fact is that Russert never deserved his reputation for fairness. He was already doing what Gregory is now doing when it was rather ridiculous. To presume he wouldn't have done it now that it is completely absurd is rather beside the point and we will never know.
But I would suggest the window Russert's integrity and fairness was revealed by his belief that his son Luke should inherit Meet the Press. A reflection on the fact that all Russert really cared about was his own sense of entitlement to success for himself and his family after achieving it. And the reality was his political work was all always a game to him. He never had any real interest in the truth or actual fairness and impartiality.
David Gregory is just continuing in that tradition. Perhaps one day another Gregory will host the show. A fitting tribute to Russert.
Steven on October 01, 2012 11:20 AM:
I suspect these demands for respect, privilege and love come from a fear of people asking questions about what they actually do to earn that money. Because where would that end?
Les Ismore on October 01, 2012 1:59 PM:
I am a job creator and so are you. Everytime I shop I am helping to create a job. What is funny is that this "job creator" fetish, as the author calls it has become so distorted. Listening to the people who talk about this all the time makes one think these business owners are out to create jobs as the end rather than the means. When in actuality it is in response to demand and a desire to make a profit. So everytime I go to the grocery store and spend $150 to feed my family for the week, I am a REAL job creator. Everytime I buy a new car, I am a REAL job creator.